Automatic Buys PayTollo

Automatic, a SiriusXM company that brings the power of connectivity to most cars on the road, announced the acquisition of PayTollo, a mobile payment platform for toll roads and bridges that gives both drivers and Toll Authorities a streamlined payment option.

PayTollo’s GPS Toll Recognition Technology algorithm and user interface delivers the ability to notify, verify and charge a user for toll crossings. PayTollo is currently an accepted payment option for tolls in Florida and California. PayTollo simplifies the tolling experience, from paying tolls across different toll roads and bridges to account management and billing, all through the use of the PayTollo mobile app. For Toll Authorities transitioning to All-Electronic Tolling, PayTollo can reduce costs, time needed to collect funds, DMV look-ups, billed invoices, and enables real-time verification.

Teraki’s Intelligent Signal and Infineon AURIX Integration

Teraki, a technology leader in AI and edge processing, announced the immediate availability of its AI and edge processing technology to meet the exploding data analytics demands of the automotive industry. Teraki’s Intelligent Signal Processing software delivers a more than 10X increase in automotive chip, communications and learning performance, making highly accurate AI applications possible in embedded environments.

The company also announced that Infineon’s AURIX™ microcontrollers will be the first to market with an integration of Teraki’s breakthrough AI technology.

Teraki is taking technology honed at the highest end of data analytics accuracy requirements and scaling it efficiently for the highly-constrained automotive infrastructure and, over time, other data-intensive IoT markets.

Today, the automotive industry and its OEMs and insurance providers face an incredible opportunity to deliver innovative, cost-effective ways to use the vast amount of data generated by in-vehicle sensors, electronic control units (ECUs) and AI to improve vehicle safety and lower operational costs.

Teraki offers edge processing technology. Teraki down scales the cloud analytics models to fit and operate in or with resource- and cost-constrained automotive ECUs and networks. The result is more than a 4-10X factor increase in edge processing solutions for automotive chip and data communications and more than a 10X faster in AI or machine learning time performance.

“The biggest challenge for automotive system designers when implementing AI-driven applications is to find the balance between growing amounts of sensor data and the constraints of communication and processing technology. Utilizing Infineon’s AURIX™ microcontrollers that support ASIL-D systems, Teraki delivers an innovative approach that significantly improves data analytics and enables true low-latency mobility services,” said Ritesh Tyagi, head of the Infineon Silicon Valley Automotive Innovation Center. “For applications such as accident detection, driver behavior identification and predictive maintenance, the combination of these technologies translates into greater accuracy in detecting and responding to real-time events, resulting in higher levels of system reliability.”

The mathematics behind the technology comes from co-founders Daniel Richart and Markus Kopf, and a talented team consisting of more than 10 researchers. Richart comes from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Munich working under Nobel Prize-winning atomic physicist Theodor W. Hänsch. Richart led research projects in quantum computing, a new field challenged by analyzing enormous volumes of data representing the multiple possible simultaneous combinations of quantum states of a particle.

Teraki recently announced it has raised $3 million in cumulative seed financing and government grants, with new investors Paladin Capital Group and GPS Ventures GmbH joining previous investors including Deutsche Telekom hub:raum.

Cypress Semi Embedded Semper Devices

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced it has embedded compute capabilities into its next-generation memory platform to address the growing demand for trusted intelligence and fail-safe storage in applications such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and smart factories. The platform includes standardized intellectual property (IP) that can be reconfigured quickly to address emerging applications. Cypress’ Semper NOR Flash family is based on the platform and is architected with an Arm Cortex-M0 processor to meet industry standards for building fail-safe embedded automotive systems and to provide reliable, high-endurance data retention at extreme operating temperatures common in automotive and industrial applications.

Failure is not an option for mission-critical applications such as self-driving cars and factory equipment handling costly materials. For these applications to work every time, they require smarter system memory that is long-lasting, dependable and designed for functional safety compliance. Cypress’ Semper devices were designed to achieve the ISO 26262 functional safety standard using the Cortex-M0 processor to enable safe boot, processing of complex embedded algorithms, and functional safety diagnostics. The Semper family includes Cypress’ EnduraFlex™ architecture, which uses the Arm core to independently optimize the memory array for frequent data writing or for long data retention. The family also supports demanding instant-on applications with up to 400 MBps of read bandwidth.

The Semper Flash family includes AEC-Q100 automotive-qualified devices with densities up to 4Gb and an extended temperature range of -40°C to +125°C. The EnduraFlex architecture simplifies system design by enabling a Semper Flash device to be divided into multiple partitions. For frequent data writes, a partition can be configured to deliver up to 2.56 million cycles for 1Gb parts, while for code and configuration storage, a partition can be configured to retain data for 25 years. More information on the Semper Flash family is available at http://www.cypress.com/semper-flash.

Hireology for NADA

Hireology, the nation’s leading integrated hiring and talent management platform and the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which represents more than 16,500 franchised new-car and truck dealers in the U.S., last week announced a strategic relationship to provide education and training for NADA members in human capital management (HCM). Through the relationship, Hireology and NADA will jointly form HCM 20-Groups and Hireology is now the exclusive recruiting and hiring technology collaborator for NADA.

Xevo BancPass for Toll Payments

Xevo Inc., the global leader in data-driven user experiences for the automotive industry, announced that they have partnered with BancPass to incorporate the electronic toll pay app PlusPass into their in-vehicle commerce and services platform, Xevo Market. Xevo Market makes it possible for consumers to engage and interact with their favorite merchant brands and services via their in-vehicle touchscreen and vehicle-branded mobile apps. Consumers are able to order their favorite food and drinks from the car and have it waiting for them when they arrive, find the nearest gas station and pay for fuel, and now with PlusPass they will have a new, convenient way to pay for tolls.

The PlusPass app allows users to see their toll road transaction history and manage vehicle and payment information. Integrating the app into the Xevo Market platform will allow PlusPass users to access the app directly from the touchscreen of their vehicle, making it possible for them to activate vehicles, manage their account, and receive status updates in real time without having to interact with their phone.

Volvo to Integrate NVIDIA AGX Xavier Processors in 2020s

Volvo Cars and NVIDIA announced that the Swedish automaker has selected the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Xavier™ computer for its next generation of vehicles, with production starting early 2020s.

DRIVE AGX Xavier is a highly integrated AI car computer that enables Volvo to streamline development of self-driving capabilities while reducing total cost of development and support. The initial production release will deliver Level 2+ assisted driving features, going beyond traditional advanced driver assistance systems.

NVIDIA DRIVE AGX incorporates the NVIDIA Xavier system-on-a-chip, the world’s first processor built for autonomous driving. Architected for safety, the Xavier SoC incorporates six different types of processors for redundant and diverse algorithms.

Spireon Funding

Spireon, the vehicle intelligence company, has selected Greenbriar Equity Group, L.P. (Greenbriar), a New York-based private investment firm, as its new equity partner. With over $3.5 billion in capital and investments in the global transportation and logistics industries, Greenbriar becomes the primary investor in Spireon as a result of the transaction.

eCUV from Tropos Motors through NAFG

Continuing to be the technology leader in street-legal, eCUV (electric compact utility vehicles) market, Tropos Motors has signed the National Auto Fleet Group (NAFG) as its exclusive U.S. dealer to public fleets to sell the entire line of the Tropos ABLE eCUV line of vehicles and accessories. These public fleets, operated by cities, counties, states, and public colleges and universities, will soon be able to purchase, build vehicles and obtain quotes on the Tropos ABLE family of products listed through Sourcewell from the NAFG Digital Purchasing Platform.

Silicon Mobility

Silicon Mobility, a full stack semiconductor technology player powering control solutions for a cleaner, safer and smarter mobility, has announced the completion of its $10 million Series B funding led by Capital-E and Cipio Partners including undisclosed private funding.

Silicon Mobility has invented a new semiconductor architecture engineered specifically for electric and hybrid vehicles of today and tomorrow, unlocking true power and processing potential, the OLEA® Field Programmable Control Unit (FPCU).

The OLEA Field Programmable Control Unit in addition to a complete suite of supporting products, OLEA® COMPOSER, OLEA® LIB and OLEA® APP deliver huge performance benefits compared to traditional semiconductor solutions. By using Silicon Mobility solutions, Tier one automotive manufacturers and OEMs dramatically increase the energy efficiency of electrified powertrains by 50 – 70 percent, reduce bill of material by a factor of 2 while cutting months in development cycles. This new financing will allow Silicon Mobility to scale-up with this disruptive solution and meet market demand.

Funding for Coord

Coord, the mobility data platform, today announced the closing of a $5 million Series A investment. The investment was led by Alliance Ventures, with additional funds coming from Trucks, Urban.Us and DB Digital Ventures. They join previous investor Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company

Trusted by Google Maps, Zipcar and Mozio, and supporting major US cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Coord’s suite of APIs helps developers to integrate accurate information about available transportation infrastructure and shared vehicles. For example, Coord can help ride-hail drivers locate a legal curbside pick-up or drop-off zone, reducing tickets and accidents, or enable a navigation app to suggest the most efficient trip options that users can book in app, including a nearby bike or scooter, or help a car-share service bill members for tolls in real-time, giving people a better sense of the true cost of their trip, among many other benefits.

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